Chalcolithic sites in northeastern Sinai (original) (raw)
Related papers
Oren, E.D. and Gilead, I. 1981. Chalcolithic Sites in Northeastern Sinai. Tel Aviv 8.1: 25-44
During the past nine years (1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980) the North Sinai Expedition of Ben Gurion University of the Negev has conducted, under the direction of the co-author, E.D: Oren, a systematic archaeological survey and excavations along the Mediterranean coast of Sinai between the Suez Canal and the Gaza strip .' So far we have recorded over a thousand sites, ranging from the Paleolithic through the Medieval period (Oren 1979). The eighth season of exploration (1979) was devoted to the coastal strip of northeastern Sinai between El-Arish and Rapha ( ; sites prefixed by A and R).2 Some 200 sites were mapped, mostly of the classical period, although nearly 50 of them belong to earlier periods.
Paléorient, 1994
Early Neolithic sites in South Sinai were excavated from 1976 to 1979 as part of the investigation into the origins of agricultural societies and their contemporaries. In three sites human remains were found : Ujrat el Mehed (17), Abu Madi I (1), Wadi Tbeik (2). All the graves were found within the living area of sites. Some aspects of the burials hint to a common inherited ideology with other Levantine Neolithic groups as : the burials are associated with dwellings or courtyards; adult skulls were removed for secondary burials; children and adults were treated differently; "nest" burials, known from Jericho and 'Ain Ghazal, are present ; no offerings were found with the dead. The dental evidence : lesion frequencies, macro- and micro-dental wear patterns, together with long bone morphology and pathology, clearly point to a hunter gatherer way of life. A detailed morphometric comparison with various circum-Mediterranean populations demonstrates that the local populations of the Sinai manifest a unique morphology and remarkable gracility in the skull and long bones when compared to any other contemporaneous population. Although they show more resemblance to the Levantine PPN populations than to any other circum-Mediterranean group, it seems that the Sinai Pre-pottery population may have their biological roots, neither in the Levant nor in North Africa, but most probably in the Arabian Peninsula. This conclusion will need to be reexamined when skeletal material from the latter region becomes available.
Early Upper Paleolithic Sites in the Qadesh Barnea Area, NE Sinai
Journal of Field Archaeology, 1993
This paper describesfour Upper Paleolithic sitesfiom NE Sinai, nearQuseime. Three of them are in a primary context, two ofwhich yielded radiocarbon dates ofca. 33,000-32,000 years b.p. They are embedded in a silt-sand tewace that is attributed to a relatively wet phase of the Early U@er Paleolithic period. The sites are small camps, remnants of living su$aces, with numerousjint artifacts, limestone anvils and hammers, ochre$ech, and ostrich emshells. The jint assemblages are dominated by numerousjne blades, some of which were either retouched or backed. The Qadesh Barnea assemblages, along with similar assemblages fiom the Ngev and Sinai, represent the earliest and best-documented Upper Paleolithic culture in the Levant, the Lagaman, which is broadly contemporary (ca. 40,000-30,000 b.p.) with the Early Aurgnacian ofEurope and the French Castelpewonian.
Manfred Bietak, Review of J. Hoffmeier, Excavations in North Sinai: Tell el-Borg vol. I
Tell el-Borg I, 2014
This is a review of the publication of the excavations at Tell el-Borg in northern Sinai. The book is important for several reasons. The topography of the region of the isthmus of Qantara is assessed by geophysical methods what enables to identify several Egyptian fortresses showing up on the reliefs of pharaoh Seti I at the northern outer wall of the Amun-Temple at Karnak. At the same time, the scenario of the assault by land and sea of the Sea-Peoples against the eastern border of Egypt during the year 8 of Ramses III can be optimally reconstructed. The Mission led by James Hoffmeier excavated remains of two Egyptian fortresses, one was constructed during the reign of Amenhotep II, the other by Horemheb or Ramses II. The entrance construction of the latter fortress was charred and the names of Ramses III on the door frame partly chiseled out. This seems to have happened during the abovementioned invasion of the Sea-Peoples. The book presents the plans, the photographs and the finds of these excavations with a detailed documentation of the pottery. It presents the activities of an archaeological salvage operation in the northern Sinai following a call by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities to document the antiquities in this region before agricultural land reclamations went ahead. The publication is followed by a second volume.